Crime
Chinese national, Li Yan Pin, forfeits $.3m to FG
Justice Babatunde Quadri of Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, May 11, 2020, ordered the final forfeiture of $300,000, belonging to a Chinese national, Li Yan Pin, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The judge had earlier ordered the interim forfeiture of the money following an exparte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Yan Pin stood trial for a money laundering charge, levelled against him by the EFCC over the said sum after intelligence led to his arrest at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for failing to declare the sum in his possession, as he attempted to board a flight to China en-route Dubai.
Justice Quadri in his judgment noted that the prosecution has proved its case beyond every reasonable doubt and found the defendant guilty of the charges, according to Section 2, sub-section (5) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011, as amended in 2012.
The defense counsel in its response pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, as the convict, he said had invested his resources to the development of Nigeria, and currently facing difficult health challenges.
He also noted that his client has no prior criminal conviction.
While ordering that the said sum be forfeited to the Federal Government, Justice Quadri, saved the convict a jail term on the ground that he had earlier filed for a medical leave over alleged COVID 19 symptoms that included persistent headache, insomnia and fatigue.
Meanwhile, Justice J. Iyang of Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has convicted and sentenced one Muhammad Ogbobio, self-styled coordinator of Bayelsa State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, to 28 years imprisonment.
The convict, who allegedly paraded himself as the coordinator of the board from 2009-2012, was arraigned by the EFCC, Port Harcourt Zonal office, on March 19, 2015, on a 5-count charge bordering on forgery and obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N12.1m in bogus hajj fees.
The victims were allegedly introduced to the convict by one Adodo Oristsegbubem, but they could not make it to Saudi Arabia for the 2012 hajj exercise and all efforts to retrieve their money allegedly failed.
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